


The ABCs of Jaeco/Zihyo

by Aya_Chi007



Category: Block B
Genre: ABC Challenge, M/M, eating disorder trigger warning for g is for gloomy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-27
Updated: 2016-02-02
Packaged: 2018-04-01 13:30:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 2,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4021660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aya_Chi007/pseuds/Aya_Chi007
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Twenty-six drabbles, A to Z, all about Jaeco in different (more than likely unrelated) scenarios.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A is for Altruism

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Altruism - belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others

Jaehyo groaned softly as he stirred, eyes fluttering against the brightness of the morning sun. He shuddered as warmth breath fanned over his skin. Strong fingers danced across the smooth expanse of his back, expertly working out the knots they found. He sighed contently, squirming as familiar lips pressed gently against the back of his neck.

“Zee-ah-co,” Jaehyo muttered sleepily.

Jiho’s chest rumbled with laughter as his hand stopped its trek across the elder’s back. He wrapped his arms around Jaehyo’s slender waist as he nuzzled against the nape of his neck. “Good morning, dumb-hyo,” he chuckled as Jaehyo elbowed him weakly in the ribs, “I made you breakfast.”

Jaehyo hummed as he twisted over so he could face his boyfriend. “I’m surprised the house is still standing then,” he teased.

“Shut up.” Jiho rolled his eyes. “I’ll still kick your ass.”

Jaehyo smiled as his hands came up to play in his lover’s messy blue hair. “I admire your altruism, I really do,” he commented sarcastically. “Pancakes?”

“What else can I cook? Come on…” he gives Jaehyo a quick peck on the lips before sliding out of bed and scooping him up in his arms.


	2. B is for Brevity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brevity - shortness of time; ex. “The brevity of human life.”
> 
> Warning: Character Death in this chapter

Everything is fleeting, a mere lick of flame atop a candle in the middle of the harshest storm, barely hanging on and so, so easy to snuff out.

The first time Jaehyo meets Jiho, he thinks he’s the human embodiment of a raging inferno. Dark eyes (rimmed thick with kohl) smolder at him as their owner makes his way across the dance floor. The touch of his hands on Jaehyo’s hips burns through his layers of clothes. When they make it out of the club, out onto the cracked concrete street, and Jiho pushes him against the rough brick of the wall to kiss him, Jaehyo can practically feel the flames licking at his own lips.

That’s what their love was like: a forest fire ravaging everything in its path only to leave destruction in its wake. Beautiful, extravagant, deadly, dangerous (words Jaehyo would also use to describe Jiho on a number of occasions) and it was a complete whirlwind.

Jaehyo completely forgot how fragile it all was.

He didn’t listen to the police talk, didn’t listen to them describe the shattered glass on the road, or anything else. His eyes flitted between Jiho who, despite the lacerations on his face, he couldn’t drink in enough of, and the peaks and valleys on the monitor, his heart breaking as he watched the beats of his boyfriend’s heart steadily drop. A shaky breath escaped him as he leaned forward to press a final kiss to Jiho’s forehead. Tears dripped down his cheeks and the heat reminded him of how fiery Jiho had been and how easily that fire had been snuffed out.

The haunting beep of a flat-line echoed through the hospital room.


	3. C is for Cloy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cloy - disgust or sicken (someone) with an excess of sweetness, richness, or sentiment

Jaehyo sighed as he walked into their apartment, eyes immediately focusing on the extravagant arrangement of roses sitting prettily on the coffee table. His sigh quickly became a groan as he noticed the giant heart-shaped box sitting next to it. It wasn’t Valentine’s Day. It wasn’t their anniversary. Hell, it wasn’t even his birthday! It was Tuesday, he had just gotten back from his last class of the day (senior year was hell) and he just wanted to sleep.

He retrieved his phone from his pocket, mumbling nonsensically under his breath as he listened to the ringing, waiting for his darling boyfriend to pick up.

“Hi, hyung!” Jiho answered cheerfully. Jaehyo swore under his breath, making a mental note to hide all forms of ‘sweet’ from his lover, lest the man just become pure sugar. “Did you get the flowers I left for you?”

Jaehyo closed his eyes. “Yes, babe. I also got the chocolates you left with them.”

Jiho had the fucking audacity to giggle at that. Not chuckle. Giggle like a fucking school-girl whose confession was accepted. “Did you like them?”

“Honestly? Not really.” He slouched back against the door, his eyes falling shut as he hears the little disappointed noise his boyfriend makes. “Jiho, babe, I love you, and I appreciate that you like getting me gifts. I just… I don’t need all these grand gestures all the time. To hell with the flowers, the candy, the oversized teddy bears, I’d rather come home and see you waiting for me with takeout and a stupid movie instead.”

Silence flooded the line and, for a moment, Jaehyo wondered if he had been too harsh, if he had been misunderstood. The very next second, however, Jiho’s voice chimed through the line, as cheerful as ever. “So, do you want pizza or Chinese tonight?”

Jaehyo laughed, unable to stop the smile stretching across his lips. “Make it pizza, babe.”


	4. D is for Dusk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dusk - the darker stage of twilight

The sun has almost completely dipped below the horizon, casting a bronzish glow over everything. It’s not quite light, it’s not quite dark, it’s fleeting, and it’s Jiho’s favorite time of day. Orange fills the sky, streaked by bits of pink and yellow and sometimes even lavender. If he tilts his head back a bit further, he’ll see the color of the night already forming, pin-pricked by tiny stars. Light versus the dark, one cannot exist without the other.

He and Jaehyo are like that.

Jaehyo would be the day: bright, shining, warm, adored by everyone. Jiho’s like the night: cold, dark, and the only light is faint and hard to see. Jaehyo’s smile is radiant as the sun. Jiho’s is softer, like the light the moon gives off, and not nearly as noticeable.

“It’s just as beautiful though,” Jaehyo murmurs as he runs his fingers through Jiho’s bleached hair.

Shit. He’s been talking out loud this whole time, rambling nonsense with his head resting on the pillow of his boyfriend’s lap.

And Jaehyo had listened.

He sits straight up, eyes wide as he stares at the older man, trying to come up with something, a joke, something witty, something to take away from the seriousness of everything he just said, something to make him not seem like a sappy fool. He doesn’t get the chance though before Jaehyo’s lips are pressing against his own, slender hands pulling him closer.

Jaehyo’s his sun. It just never occurred to him that he might also be Jaehyo’s moon and stars.


	5. E is for Exasperate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exasperate - irritate intensely; infuriate

Jaehyo’s eyelids fluttered from the weight of his own exhaustion as he stared at his laptop screen. He still had three pages left to write for this fucking paper and it was already four in the morning. He would have had it completed weeks ago, if it weren’t for his boyfriend.

Jiho was a complete sweetheart, he really was, but he thrived on attention, craved it like a fucking addict. It was hard to get anything done when Jiho was constantly dragging him to his band’s gigs or out to one of Yukwon’s insane house parties that hosted all of Jiho’s favorite vices (speaking of which, he and Jiho still owed Yukwon new sheets). If they didn’t go out, Jiho stayed latched to his side, pressing kisses to his jaw and whispering little adoring words into his ear. It was nice, for the most part, but some days, Jaehyo really didn’t need the distractions.

Jaehyo swore under his breath as he heard the sound of the front door opening. He closed his eyes briefly, silently hoping his boyfriend would just tromp off to bed and fall asleep. Barely a moment later, however, Jiho was draped over him, the scent of weed and alcohol embedded in his fucking skin.

"Babe~" Jiho murmured into the crook of his neck, fingers playing with the hole in Jaehyo's worn tank top, "Come to bed with me."

Jaehyo let a out a controlled sigh, attempting to keep his annoyance in check. "Babe, I have to finish this paper. It's due in a few hours."

Jiho made a soft whining sound against his skin."But, babe, I wanna snuggle."

"But, babe, I have to finish this paper."

"But, baaabe, I wanna snuggle."

Jaehyo's hands slammed against the tabletop, startling Jiho off his shoulder. He swiveled around in his chair to fix his boyfriend with a harsh glare, taking a small amount of pleasure in the way Jiho's kohl-rimmed eyes widened.

"Jiho, I have to have a completed essay submitted to my professor by nine. Otherwise I'll fail the course," Jaehyo gritted out, "Stop being such a fucking attention whore and be patient."

He spun back around to face his laptop, hands immediately falling to the keys. For almost half an hour, the only sound was the steady click-clack of typing. He was almost finished, with only a conclusion paragraph left, when he felt Jiho lean over him again, chin on his shoulder.

"I still wanna snuggle," he mumbled sulkily and Jaehyo can just imagine the pout on his lips.

Jaehyo smiled as he continued typing. It wasn't until his essay was safely submitted in the drop box (and emailed to his professor for good measure), that he finally looked at Jiho, was who was almost asleep.

"Babe," Jaehyo whispered as he ran his fingers through Jiho's messy hair. Jiho hummed, blinking slowly as his boyfriend's voice reached him. "You still wanna snuggle?"

Jiho nodded sleepily. "Please."

They made it back to their room, where Jaehyo had to help Jiho out of his combat boots and ripped jeans before they could crawl beneath the covers. Jiho immediately fitted himself against Jaehyo, head against his shoulder, one leg slotted between his boyfriend's own.

"I'm sorry I called you an attention whore," Jaehyo murmured as he kissed the side of Jiho's head.

"I am though," Jiho mumbled against his neck, drawing a soft chuckle from Jaehyo.

"You are," Jaehyo agreed, "You're also exasperating as fuck." He paused for a moment. "You're cute though."

Jiho smiled against his skin. "Love you."

"Love you too, babe."


	6. F is for Fervent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fervent - having or displaying a passionate intensity

Jaehyo likes the way Jiho kisses him. All the ways Jiho kisses him actually. The sleepy press of their lips when they first wake up, between his half-hearted complaints about morning breath and Jiho's chuckling about how he doesn’t care; the quick, hurried pecks when they’re rushing out the door to get to their classes on time; and the soft, gentle string of goodnight kisses.

But there’s more than just that.

There’s drunken kisses, sloppy and uncoordinated, that make him smile when Jiho starts singing in English, his words half-slurred, about how his lips taste like sangria. The obnoxious, just for show kisses, accompanied by a loud ‘mwah,’ just to get on Kyung’s nerves when he complains about being single. The shy, chaste kisses when Jiho pulls away blushing and grinning like an idiot, despite the fact that they’ve been together for almost two years.

But then there’s the moments Jiho holds him together during his attacks, placing soft kisses against his temple as Jaehyo exhales brokenly against his shoulder. Or when Jiho’s angry, seething and raging against whichever injustice has managed to flip his switch and Jaehyo presses kisses against the line of his jaw, stubble occasionally pricking at his lips, to try to ground him and bring him back. Or after a fight, when their kisses heal the burns their words left on their lips.

Perhaps Jaehyo’s favorite way though is when he knows Jiho’s kisses mean more, when he’s pressed back against a wall, the couch, their mattress and Jiho can’t keep his hands to himself or above his clothes. Out on the dance floor at the club, filthy promises whispered as Jiho kisses that one spot behind his ear that always makes him whine. Beneath the spray of the shower, their bodies slick as Jiho presses against him, his kisses fervent, hot, and needy, lips trailing down his jaw, his neck, his chest, his abs…

He likes the way Jiho kisses him. Simple as that.


	7. G is for Gloomy (trigger warning)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gloomy - filled with or showing gloom; sad, dejected, or melancholy.
> 
> Trigger warning for mentions of eating disorders.

The ticking of the clock echoes around the room, reverberating inside his head. Empty water bottles litter the carpet, some crushed from being stepped on. The ones that are still full reside proudly on the nightstand above their fallen brethren, unknowing that they will meet the same fate. He rolls over, staring at the neon green numbers on his calendar clock.

He hasn't left his room in four days, hasn’t touched his phone for the same amount of time. The door leading into the rest of the apartment has stayed resolutely locked. Not that anyone has come knocking anyway. Of course not. 

Slowly, he shifts his body until he can set his bare feet on the floor, cringing as a plastic bottle crackles noisily under his heel. He kicks it away. It barely rolls, moving just enough to not be underfoot. Finally he stands, his body creaking like rusted gears in an abandoned machine. His soles drag along, warmed from the friction from the carpet, as he walks into his adjoined bathroom.

He keeps his eyes focused down on the tiles the entire time. He doesn't want to see what he looks like right now, doesn't want to see what he looks like ever, honestly. Bravado is easy to fake, so is confidence. Even if you fake it, though, it doesn't guarantee you'll make it. He definitely hasn't. Finally, he looks up.

Ugly. That's the first word that crosses his mind when he sees his reflection. The light shines from how greasy his hair is from lack of washing. His sallow skin stretches gaunt-like across his face, emphasizing the jut of his cheekbones and the sharp edges of his jawline. Not in a handsome way, never like that. He looks like a corpse that's just started to decay.

His gaze drops down the length of the mirror. Grimacing, he watches his fingers trace the length of his protruding collarbones. Disgusting. His fingers fall down the flat plane of his chest to dance across his ribs. Grotesque. That's what he thinks as he feels the sharp outline of each bone beneath his fingertips. It's like they're stuck in a skin too small, trying eagerly to burst through and escape.

He jerks his hand away, swallowing to combat the feeling of bile trying to crawl up his throat. Repulsive. That's what he is, he can't even stand to look at himself, much less touch himself. How can he expect anyone else to? He hurries out of the bathroom, switching off the light before he closes the door. Before he can make it back to his bed, however, he hears knocking. He tries to ignore it, he really does. He slides onto his bed and burrows under the covers, doing his best to block out the noise.

“Ahn Jaehyo, it’s been four days!” Dammit, of all people why does it have to be him? “I swear, I will break down this door if it means making sure you’re okay!”

Jaehyo sighs, pulling himself out of bed again, snatching a shirt off the floor and pulling it on. The fabric hangs off of him almost comically, the hem stopping halfway down his boxers. He shuffles to the door, hoping in the time it takes him to get there, he’ll have given up. Taking a deep breath, he flings open the door.

No such luck. He sees his ex-boyfriend’s eyes, the skin beneath them colored a purplish black, taking in his appearance worriedly. He hates it, hates that he’s the reason the person he loves is so distressed and obviously not sleeping enough. He hates it. He hates dragging him down. That’s why he broke up with him when he was caught with his fingers down his throat in the restaurant bathroom on their last date.

“What do you want, Jiho?” Jaehyo asks wearily, dropping his own gaze so he doesn’t have to see the look in Jiho’s eyes. “We broke up, remember?”

“By ‘broke up,’ you mean you got scared and pushed me away before I could even try to understand?” Jiho’s voice isn’t angry. That’s even worse, Jaehyo could deal if he was angry. He can’t take the sincerity and concern his voice is practically dripping with. “Hyo, I want to help. I don’t know how, we can figure it out together though. I just want to help you be okay again.”

Okay… Jaehyo honestly can’t remember if he’s ever actually been ‘okay.’ He wonders what it would feel like to actually be able to eat without feeling disgusted with himself, without the violent churning of his stomach to expel whatever he consumes, if he even eats that day. He wonders if it’s even possible to look at himself and not want to shatter whatever surface he’s looking at. It seems like such a long shot, but…

“I want to.” His voice wavers as he looks up at Jiho. It feels like his throat is trying to close up, like his body doesn’t want him to confess to this. But he wants to, wants to scream it. The best he can manage though is whisper, “ I wanna get better.”


End file.
